sin sin sin

If I am going to sin my way to hell, I'd better figure out how to sin. It sounds straightforward, but it really isn't. See, the things you would expect to be sinful, are not actually sinful, according to the bible. Other things that seem innocent enough, are big no-no's and to make it even more confusing, different denominations do not seem to agree on what is naughty and what is nice.

I found the Vatican to be quite helpful, actually. They have a very nice website on which you can find tons of (contradicting) information. Contradicting, indeed, but a nice guideline nonetheless. For your entertainment: "Sin is an act contrary to reason. It wounds man's nature and injures human solidarity." Hm, I have a feeling Richard Dawkins may have something to say about use of reason in churches ;)

Anyhow, I found this one website extremely useful: http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c1a8.htm and I will refer to it whenever I see fit. Let's face it, that how 'the other side' does it as well. Fit the doctrine to your own purpose!

why?

I noticed that quite a lot of people refer to the bible as ‘the good book’, without actually having read it cover to cover. In my opinion, the bible is very much like the Magna Carta. People think they know what is in it, but do not bother to actually find out and when confronted with the actual content, are flabbergasted. As for the christians who bothered to read the novel, they tend to read it with such prejudice, the real content seems to escape them.

To give an example. To a lot of people, Jesus is a really cool guy. He died a horrible death, voluntarily, so that you can enter heaven. Isn’t that mighty nice of him? Best present evah! Quite frankly, I could find no fault with that reasoning for quite some time, then my prefrontal cortex became fully developed and the story stopped making sense. Do you see the fallacy?

Lend me your ear! You see, the reason the heavenly portals were closed (no, there is no heaven, but we will tackle that later, just play along for the time being) is because some all-powerful deity failed at playing SIMS-universe. He created a set of people, one male and one female and then gave them free will. When they exercised their free wills, the omnipotent being became very angry and he kicked them out of his garden patch. He then held a grudge for a couple of centuries until he decided to kiss and make up with humanity. Now, since he is the dude who creates the rule, he could have asked for an apology and say water under the bridge, let’s be friends again. Better even, he could have simply forgiven everyone, since the people alive at that time were not even the same folks who ate the apple. But no, he decided nothing would please him better than a bloody sacrifice. True, at least he killed his own son and did not simply slaughter a couple of hundred people because it felt right (see Old Testament, apparently, that tactic gets old after a while), but it is still a pretty sick idea.

Now, why is this utter immorality so difficult to spot? Why do people simply not see this when they read the story? I say tunnel vision. People only see what they are told they should see. When you are told from a very young age that the story is a good story and that Jesus is a good guy and that god is love and goodness, these biblical stories are read from this perspective. People become blind to the truth.

Hopefully this project will enable people to get to know the bible from a different perspective. Hopefully, your reaction is: Is that in there? Go and find out for yourself, open your eyes and read with a critical mind.

As you will see, the rules you live by, or your church / pastor / parents / friends tell you to live by, are products of an exercise I affectionally refer to as pick and choose. So….. you do think it is a bad idea to turn a knob / eat pork / work on Sundays / advocate gay marriage but you are allowed to neglect the other rules and punishment in that same book? Who does the picking and the choosing and which criteria were used? Why are some rules important and is it okay to neglect the others? Are the rules you live by really in the book? Where? And are they interpreted correctly?

I hope to provide you with food for thought. And if you are (already) an atheist, perhaps I am able to entertain you.

Idols

Quite a few texts on idols actually. It seems that god has a real issue with this. Who can blame him? In my opinion, it is definitely shite television.
The first reference I found on biblegateway.org was Exodus 20:3-5: "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below." Hm, I suppose the Flying Spaghetti Monster is fine then, since it does not take the form of anything you would actually see flying, walking or swimming.
Exodus 34:17 then tells us "Do not make cast idols." Again, this leaves a lot of leeway. Cast as in pouring a liquid such as plaster or hot metal onto or into something, so that when it hardens it has the same shape as the model. I suck at arts and crafts, so no worries there, god! Leviticus, as always, simply confuses me. I can't quite explain it, but this book provokes a lot of questions. Lev 17:7 to entertain and to serve: They must no longer offer any of their sacrifices to the goat idols to whom they prostitute themselves. This is to be a lasting ordinance for them and for the generations to come.' Goat porn? And yes, that picture is a sheep, I know that much for a city girl.

The clearest would be Leviticus 26:1: 'Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the LORD your God.' We will skip the babbling about a stone, I do not see myself Rodin-ing my way though this, but this verse informs us that anything you would call an idol or treat like an idol is an idol and that is erm.... a bad thing.
According to the Vatican: "There are a great many kinds of sins. Scripture provides several lists of them. The Letter to the Galatians contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit: "Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God." ( Gal 5:19-21; cf. Rom 1:28-32; 1 Cor 9-10; Eph 5:3-5; Col 3:5-8; 1 Tim 9-10; 2 Tim 2-5. ) Find out for yourself here: http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c1a8.htm.

Alright, let's get to work. Eternal damnation waits for no-one. As I said before, I suck at arts and crafts, so I decided to spend a few minutes on Paint. Please find below, my idol. It is a cross between Medusa and something pink, you can clearly see I was inspired by something wicked.